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i want to know on which layer wpa and wpa2 in wireless is working.

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Short answer for : WPA and WPA2 operate at the Data Link layer (OSI Layer 2), in the 802.11 MAC/RSN (link‑layer) machinery — and are on the right track. (IEEE 802.11i / WPA2, Wi‑Fi Protected Access)

A bit more detail: WPA (original) introduced TKIP as a transitional cipher; WPA2 is the 802.11i/RSN design that uses AES‑CCMP and a 4‑way handshake for key management. Those functions encrypt and integrity‑protect 802.11 data frames before IP gets involved, so they belong to the link layer. Authentication, however, often touches higher layers: WPA/WPA2‑Enterprise uses 802.1X with EAP, and EAP methods (RFC 3748) can carry TLS or other higher‑layer exchanges; the AP typically talks to a RADIUS server off‑box for credential checking. (RFC 3748)

Practical notes: check the AP settings or capture beacon/probe frames and look at the RSN information element to see which suites are advertised (use Wireshark). Prefer WPA2 (AES/CCMP) or WPA3 where available; avoid TKIP/WEP or mixed modes. If clients fail to connect, inspect the 4‑way handshake: common causes are PSK mismatches, wrong RADIUS/802.1X settings, or buggy drivers/firmware.

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Member Avatar for Ertan ERBEK

I am not sure, but my idea working on Layer2

Member Avatar for JorgeM

The 802.11-related protocols and technologies are defined in layer-2.

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